ON LOVE; PART CDLI
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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The Gospel of Thomas
These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke. And Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down.
(76) Jesus says: “The kingdom of the Father is like a merchant who had merchandise and found a pearl. That merchant is prudent. He sold the goods (and) bought for himself the pearl alone. You too look for his treasure, which does not perish, (and) which stays where no moth can reach it to eat it, and no worm destroys it.“
(77) Jesus says: “I am the light that is over all. I am the All. The All came forth out of me. And to me the All has come.” “Split a piece of wood – I am there. Lift the stone, and you will find me there.“
(78) Jesus says: “Why did you go out to the countryside? To see a reed shaken by the wind, and to see a person dressed in soft clothing [like your] kings and your great/powerful persons? They are dressed in soft clothing and will not be able to recognize the truth.“
(79) A woman in the crowd said to him: “Hail to the womb that carried you and to the breasts that fed you.” He said to [her]: “Hail to those who have heard the word of the Father (and) have truly kept it. For there will be days when you will say: ‘Hail to the womb that has not conceived and to the breasts that have not given milk.’”
(80) Jesus says: “Whoever has come to know the world has found the (dead) body. But whoever has found the (dead) body, of him the world is not worthy.“
(81) Jesus says: “Whoever has become rich should be king. And the one who has power should renounce (it).“
In the last essay we finished our look at the seventy ninth saying along with a rather lengthy excursion into the ideas of asceticism. We took on this idea of asceticism because of the idea presented by the commentators on the Gospel of Thomas that tend to paint Thomas’ perspective as teaching this as a Gnostic lifestyle. Our point IS of course that the words of Thomas that are cited are much the same as the words of the accepted gospels and while one could mistake them for asceticism, one would have to mistake ALL of the gospels in the same way. Further, it is our view that none of these ideas presented by the Master and His apostles are ascetic in accordance with the definitions of that word as we presented yesterday; there is no self-mortification, no exceedingly strict or severe religious exercises, and no necessity to life as a recluse, a monk or a hermit. And as well there is no teaching that in following the Master that one should dedicate his or her life to a pursuit of contemplative ideals and practices for religious reasons 7; there IS ONLY the thought that we keep His words of which the greater part is to attend to the things of God rather than the things of the world. It is easy to confuse these two ideas when one views Life from the perspective of the man in the world but when the Truth of Life is seen and the greater purpose even vaguely understood, one can begin to glimpse the reality of service and Love as the expression of one’s Life as we see in the exemplar Life of the Master and His teaching to His disciples and through them to us.
This reality comes through in this next saying that we began to discuss in the last post and where we found additional comments regarding this saying and the ascetic lifestyle. Again, these are misplaced ideas as in this saying and in the companion saying, the fifty sixth, we have only the Truth of Life in this world, the reality of our focus. While the wording here is parabolic, we should be able to grasp the ideas presented and these ideas are seemingly important enough to cause the apostle to repeat them in much the same way two times in his gospel. The difference between these is as we said; in the one above we find reference to the body and in the previous one we find the idea of a corpse which is of course a dead body and this IS likely the reason that this is rendered as such above by Patterson and Roobinson. Looking again at these from the Interlinear we see:
- The eightieth saying: “Said -J S72 this: Whoever-has-known-the-world, he-has-fallen upon-the-body; > whoever-has-fallen, hwvr, upon-the-body, the-world be-worthy of-him not” (Interlinear Version).
- The fifty sixth saying: “Said-JS52 this: Whoever-has-known-the-world, did-he-fall on-a-corpse, > and whoever-has-fallen upon-a?-corpse, the-world be-worthy of-him not“.
Here the reality is that to KNOW the world IS to KNOW death…spiritual death, and in this is our point of focus which IS easily relatable to the Master’s words on God and mammon. There is here in His words that great choice that is made by every man which for most this becomes an ongoing choice and not one frozen in time; the Master tells us: “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). This idea underlies this saying from Thomas’ Gospel and we can see this in the phrasing of the Master’s words which should show us that to KNOW the world is to KNOW mammon and to focus thereon and in this we one serving mammon. In this focus of Life we find the idea that one has found the body which IS Life focused upon the world, and that one has found a corpse which tells us that this body IS dead from the Truth of the spiritual perspective; these words are of course wasted on the man who KNOWS the world ONLY as he does not even recognize the reality of the spiritual Life. The following thought is the converse of this and again is written in a parabolic way that says that when the man has come to KNOW the body and to understand its nature as mammon, that the world is no longer worthy of him, that he has overcome the world or perhaps IS overcoming. We noted in the last essay that one translator uses the idea here of this man becoming superior to the world and this is a good perspective from which to understand this thought. In this saying, as in most ALL of the words of the Master in this gospel and in the accepted gospels, there IS a parabolic value and we must ever be aware that this IS the nature of His teaching. Here in this saying as well as in the fifty sixth there is no redeeming or spiritual meaning without this understanding of parabolic nature; there would be no logical reason to KNOW this message as the idea of finding the corpse or finding the body is relatively meaningless making the converse part the more difficult to understand in any way that could be meaningful. That the Master tells us “That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36) should give us the idea that our waste of time and energy in speaking of the meaningless is, rather meaningless and here we should see that the same IS True of His own words. In this regard and in regard to most ALL that we say, we must understand the perspective that IS taken; that if a man Truly desires to achieve his own spiritual reality, to keep His words and to Truly find the Kingdom of God, then his focus MUST be on those things and this is the idea behind this eightieth saying. Perhaps ALL of this can be better understood in the Light offered by this other saying from the Master:
“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).
Our next saying, the eighty first, is one that DOES NOT have a like saying in the accepted gospels and at the same time seems a rather obscure statement on first glance. In reading this we get the notion that this one MUST be viewed as a whole, that these parts CAN NOT be separated as the latter part relies upon the first. As this is a short saying we post the various translations and note the difference in Doresse and in the Interlinear against the common understanding of the others:
- Jesus said: “He who has become rich, let him become king, and he who has power, let him renounce (it)” (Blatz).
- Jesus said, “The one who has become rich should reign. And the one who has power should renounce” (Layton).
- Jesus says: “Let him who has become rich reign, and let him who has strength refrain <from using it>!” (Doresse)
- Jesus said, “Let him who has grown rich be king, and let him who possesses power renounce (it)” (Lambdin).
- Jesus says: “Whoever has become rich should be king. And the one who has power should renounce (it)” (Patterson and Rombinson).
- Jesus said, “Let one who has become wealthy reign, and let one who has power renounce <it>” (Patterson and Meyer).
- Said -J S73 this: “whoever-has-become-rich, let-him-become-king, > and he-who-has-he ( a ) power, let-him-abdicate” (Interlinear Version).
While the ideas found in renounce and in abdicate are similar, the idea of abdicate seems the stronger view here as it can be seen to mean a total relinquishing of ALL aspects while renouncing can take many forms including perhaps keeping a perspective but not using it. This is much like the idea that we see from Doresse where one can have the power and not use it. Remember we are not speaking about any spiritual power but rather the worldly power of the one who is become rich and in the idea of the reign or of becoming king we should see the acquisition of power through such riches. Here in the end we can see the idea that if one becomes rich and find that power that such riches bring, that he should abdicate that power thereby making both it and the idea of riches as to have no effect. The commentary on this saying includes:
- F. F. Bruce writes: “This saying either disparages material wealth and power, or commends true wealth and power in the spiritual realm (cf. Saying 2); he who has the latter will renounce the world.” (Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament, p. 144).
- Funk and Hoover write: “This paradoxical saying is a puzzle to interpreters of the Gospel of Thomas. The first half seems to condone worldly values, the second half to condemn them. Thom 110 is similar, except that the paradox is lacking. The term ‘reign’ in v. 1 may be a key to understanding the saying. ‘Reign’ elsewhere in Thomas is a technical term (in Thom 2:4, those who seek will find, they will then be disturbed and marvel, and finally, they will ‘reign over all,’ a final state that corresponds to salvation), but, even so, the meaning of the saying is far from clear. The use of paradox fits generally into the Thomean pattern, which is also characteristic of some of the genuine sayings of Jesus. However, the Fellows could not fit the first part of the saying into what is known about Jesus from other sayings and parables, so it was designated black. The second half sounded more like something Jesus might have said; this possibility produced a gray vote.” (The Five Gospels, p. 517).
- Gerd Ludemann writes: “‘Become rich’ refers in a metaphorical sense to knowledge (cf. 3.5). The one who has knowledge should be king (cf. 2.3).” (Jesus After 2000 Years, p. 630)Gerd Ludemann writes: “This verse requires renunciation on the part of the one who has worldly power, so that he enters into the state denoted in v. 1.” (Jesus After 2000 Years, p. 631).
Except for Mr Ludemann, the others forget the parabolic style of the Master; at the same time his understanding is not as is our view as we see no metaphor implied here. The nature of the saying is better seen as the Truth of riches as Mr. Bruce sees this although there is no disparaging nor commendation in having them; if we can see the reality that riches result in power and that this a an understood relationship, we can then carry this forward to the second part. Riches equal power but at the same time the man who IS seeking, the man who IS striving toward the Kingdom should abdicate this power, should make it of none effect and in so doing this aspirant and this disciple make the riches of none effect as well. The natural effect of this is likely the forsaking of those riches as this IS the Way of the disciple. A kindred saying from Thomas’ Gospel, the one hundred tenth, tells us this same thing as we are interpreting this eighty first to say; we read there that: “The one who has found the world (and) has become wealthy should renounce the world” (Thomas 110). We must remember here again that these sayings and the sayings of the accepted gospels and the epistles of His apostles ARE ALL intended for disciples and for aspirants and for those who seek and strive to be among them and from this perspective ALL of this renouncing and abdicating of wealth DOES make perfect sense.
The next group of sayings for our discussion are:
(82) Jesus says: “The person who is near me is near the fire. And the person who is far from me is far from the kingdom.”
(83) Jesus says: “The images are visible to humanity, but the light within them is hidden in the image. {} The light of the Father will reveal itself, but his image is hidden by his light.”
(84) Jesus says: “When you see your likeness you are full of joy. But when you see your likenesses that came into existence before you – they neither die nor become manifest – how much will you bear?”
(85) Jesus says: “Adam came from a great power and a great wealth. But he did not become worthy of you. For if he had been worthy, (then) [he would] not [have tasted] death.”
(86) Jesus says: “[Foxes have] their holes and birds have their nest. But the son of man has no place to lay his head down (and) to rest.”
(87) Jesus says: “Wretched is the body that depends on a body. And wretched is the soul that depends on these two.”
(88) Jesus says: “The messengers and the prophets are coming to you, and they will give you what belongs to you. And you, in turn, give to them what you have in your hands (and) say to yourselves: ‘When will they come (and) take what belongs to them?’”
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect of God |
Potency |
Aspect of Man |
In Relation to the Great Invocation |
In relation to the Christ |
|
GOD, The Father |
Will or Power |
Spirit or Life |
Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN |
Life |
|
Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Soul or Christ Within |
Heart of God |
Truth |
|
Holy Spirit |
Light or Activity |
Life Within |
Mind of God |
Way |
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
As the Lord’s Prayer is given to us by the Christ for our use 2000 years ago, the Great Invocation, according to esoteric sources, was give from Him as well and whether we believe that this IS True or not we should look at this prayer as containing the same selfless invocative style as does the Lord’s Prayer and then any that are modeled after their style. We again encourage ALL to read and reread this Great Invocation and our comments as in these words can be found keys to our spiritual reality.
From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.
From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.
From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men–
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.
From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.
Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.
This prayer is a part of our Prayers and Meditations section and there is much information about it there and in our discussion of it in the Quote of the Day section of In the Words of Jesus parts 128-132
The above Invocation or Prayer does not belong to any person or group but to all Humanity. The beauty and the strength of this Invocation lies in its simplicity, and in its expression of certain central truths which all men, innately and normally, accept—the truth of the existence of a basic Intelligence to Whom we vaguely give the name of God; the truth that behind all outer seeming, the motivating power of the universe is Love; the truth that a great Individuality came to earth, called by Christians, the Christ, and embodied that love so that we could understand; the truth that both love and intelligence are effects of what is called the Will of God; and finally the self-evident truth that only through humanity itself can the Divine Plan work out.
Like the Lord’s Prayer, this invocation is a World Prayer which is as all that a prayer is intended to be. It is a prayer for the uplifting of the Human Family out of the mire of materialism and selfishness. The Lord’s Prayer asks nothing for the individual praying it but asks that its benefits be for US and for WE which is why it was given by the Christ as a prayer and as a model over 2000 years ago. This invocation is also attributed to the Christ who, as He promised, has never left us; He, through channels that we do not readily understand, has Himself instructed His disciples to distribute this prayer and to encourage its use as a world prayer and as an aid in preparing the world for His return.
The first three stanzas of this prayer should be understood as reflecting the effective potencies of the Trinity which is God and which, when brought down to an individual level, the Trinity which is Man. His Will, His Love and His Light we should seen as the Potent Powers of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 7 Dictionary.com Unabridged based on Random House Dictionary – 2011
- 14 The Gospel of Thomas; Translated by Stephen J. Patterson and James M. Robinson; http://gnosis.org/
